//------------------------------//
// Tour Concluded 
// Story: Spinel's New Best Friend 
// by luckyboys121 
//------------------------------//

As the group continued along their way Sombra went on explaining a few things, all of which was ignored by the stewing Twilight, that is until they saw daylight as they soon found themselves outside the castle as Sombra said, "And now we have reached the peak of the tour, behold," he then gestured with wide arms at the castle as the others looked on in confusion.

"Um... what exactly are we supposed to be beholding?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Sombra looked at them before bowing slightly as he chuckled and said, "Oh, forgive me, sometime I forget how it blends in with the other castle towers," he then stood back up as his hand began to glow as it shifted into an ocarina like shape before he used his other hand to form a note on it and raised it to his mouth playing it.

This resulted in one of the towers of the castle detaching from the rest as it floated through the air as robotic legs came off of it and a drill took shape at the bottom. 

Spinel's eyes widened as she said, "So... that's your Injector then."

"Correct, and now we can get into the nitty gritty of what makes this colony so fascinating," said Sombra. He then faced the group as his Gem began to glow before it projected an image of the Injector burrowing into the ground as he said, "Normally an Injector would pump the raw material and data to form a Gem into the ground, said material would absorb the nutrients and resources from the land around it, at which point the data would coalesce into what we refer to as a Spark, and then the Gem would burst forth from the ground.... however something curious happened when I deployed it on this planet." Sombra then made the image move as a red liquid came out of the Injector and colored the whole ground red. "At first I thought I had made some mistake in the formula, but after repeated attempts I realized what was going on, the 'magic' as you creatures call it, of this planet somehow prevents the Gem from forming, at first I thought this planet might just be a waste of time... that is until," he said before turning back to the projection as the silhouettes of ponies stepped onto the ground and the red liquid began to leach up from the ground into them. "The 'magic' within ponies acts as a magnet, pulling in the data and material from the ground into them giving them knowledge and abilities of whatever class of Gem the Injector was currently trying to make, resulting in them becoming what they refer to as Crystal Ponies."

"So wait... you're saying that Crystal Ponies are part Gem?" asked Pinkie.

"Exactly," said Sombra excitedly. "I mean who would have thought an organic Gem hybrid was even possible?"

Spinel somewhat awkwardly laughed at that as she said, "I'm sure not many would have believed in one."

"So then... you plan to do this to every creature in Equestria then?" asked Twilight as she clenched a wing on her saddle bag. 

"Well... most anyway, I have yet to fully test how the process works on creatures besides ponies," said Sombra as he scratched his chin thinking, "I suppose I could try it on the nearby Griffonstone next, would make for a great test and if successfully will be a great boon to my forces." 

Twilight's wing began to flex at that as Spike put his hand on her shoulder to try and calm her, it seemed to barely work as her wing lowered. 

Sombra then turned back to the group saying, "Regardless, now is the time we must bid you organics adieu as I show Spinel my command center where we might discuss the next phase of the colony." 

"Oh... but can't we hear it too?" asked Pinkie.

"Um quite right darling, we've come so far and seen so much of your plan already," added Rarity.

"Yeah, you can't just jip us out of the end," added Rainbow Dash.

"We would like to come with you... if it's not too much trouble," said Fluttershy.

Sombra chuckled as he said, "I appreciate your enthusiasm but I insist on this being a private Gem to Gem exchange, I need to make sure everything is approved of before I can properly instruct you all, I do hope you'll understand."

"Oh I understand alright," said Twilight as she began to step forward.

Again Spike put his hand on her as Spinel cocked her eyebrow thinking, "Twilight seems a bit more... impulsive then usual, it's a good thing Spike still has a good head on his shoulders," as she tried to brush it aside saying, "Alright you heard the guy huddle up." They then moved towards Spinel as she whispered saying, "Alright guys, I'm gonna go with him and see if I can't talk him out of all this."

"Are you sure you'll be OK alone with him?" asked Pinkie, worry showing on her face.

Spinel smirked as she waved her off and said, "It's fine, he thinks I'm his superior so he's probably more scared of me then we are of him."

"I doubt that," said Twilight as she rolled her eyes.

Spinel looked at her thinking, "Should I say something.... I'm sure it's fine, Steven let Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all do their things while he tried to help out after all." 

"Well, is there anything we can do?" asked Applejack. 

Spinel thought about this for a moment before saying, "Well... hopefully it doesn't come to it but if that Injector starts moving try to find a way to stop it." 

"How in the hey can we do that!?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I'm not sure, but I know you'll figure something out," said Spinel with a smile.

At this point Twilight briefly snapped out of her rage as she thought, "Should I tell her about the Rejuvenator, she might know of a way to use it to stop all this... but then again she might take it away since we're trying friendship." 

Before Twilight could think on this further Sombra touched a panel causing a hole to open up in the ground revealing a stair case as he said, "Not to rush you my Spinel but I do hope we can get to work soon." 

"Coming," said Spinel before turning back to the others saying, "You guys just trust me to try and win him over and I'll trust you to do the right thing if it doesn't work," as she gave them all a thumbs up before running towards Sombra.

The two then descended the staircase as the floor closed back up behind them. 

Pinkie's ears fell slightly as she said, "I hope she knows what she's doing."

"I'm sure she does," said Fluttershy as she placed a reassuring hoof on Pinkie's shoulder causing her to perk up a bit. 

Twilight lowered her head as she thought, "Am I really doing the right thing... I thought it was fine since I was just thinking about saving my family... but then again I was just thinking about saving Equestria when I tried to steal the Hippogriffs Pearl... why didn't I tell her about the Rejuvinator and how can we stop the Injector if things go wrong?"

As she thought on this Rainbow Dash griped saying, "I'm just mad we can't hit him with the Elements now." 

And that's when it clicked as Twilight said, "Too much energy in the reactor... I think I have a plan."



As Spinel reached the ground floor she looked around the table projecting a hologram of the Injector as Sombra was typing away at a nearby console as he said, "From here I can control and monitor every function of the castle," he then gestured to the screen above it as he said, "As you can see all readings are nominal and we should be ready to deploy in the nearest village within the hour." 

"That's really good Sombra... in the meantime, how about you tell me about yourself?" asked Spinel as she sat down at the table.

Sombra cocked his head in confusion as he said, "I beg your pardon?"

"Oh... I just mean, I would like a report of everything that you've been through since last we spoke on home world," said Spinel. 

Sombra winched at that as he said, "Oh... you don't want to hear that, after all I already told you the broad strokes."

Spinel thought, "Definetly getting somewhere, between that and his outburst earlier something defiantly happened between him and those ponies from earlier, I just gotta find out what." Spinel then cleared her throat as she said, "I asked for a report, that's an order."

Instantly Sombra stood up straight and gave a salute as he said, "Yes my Spinel."

She slightly smirked at that thinking, "Hum, so this is what it feels like to be a Diamond... it's not for me," as she then sighed saying, "At ease," as she gestured for him to sit next to her.

He did so but was still somewhat stiff as he said, "Where exactly should I begin?"

"At the beginning, right after you and Yellow left the Ball," said Spinel

"Of course," said Sombra as he let out a sigh and began to recall it all.